Topic: customer fraud and e-publishing
Started by: xiombarg
Started on: 4/28/2004
Board: Publishing
On 4/28/2004 at 2:50pm, xiombarg wrote:
customer fraud and e-publishing
I thought the following link might be of interest to y'all:
When Your Customer Commits Fraud
In essence, it goes over your rights, as a writer, regarding your customers, when they are dis-satisfied. It's written with more "mainstream" writing in mind, but I think it applies very much to RPG publishing as well. It's certainly something I'll be thinking of when I finally produce the PDF version of Unsung.
I'm not sure if a firm "no refunds" policy is the best thing to do in a market as small as ours, but I certainly think being aware of this sort of individual is a good idea.
On 4/28/2004 at 3:20pm, Dev wrote:
RE: customer fraud and e-publishing
I'm unaware of any PDF sales that DO allow for refunds - "no refunds" is a very reasonable policy in this case, since your product is also not exorbitantly pricey. I think you'd only bother your potential consumers with overly obtrustive encryption/document protection/etc.
On 4/28/2004 at 4:04pm, xiombarg wrote:
RE: customer fraud and e-publishing
Dev wrote: I'm unaware of any PDF sales that DO allow for refunds - "no refunds" is a very reasonable policy in this case, since your product is also not exorbitantly pricey. I think you'd only bother your potential consumers with overly obtrustive encryption/document protection/etc.
Oh, I totally agree. I have a few PDFs like that, and they're annoying.
But I can also totally see a customer trying to get a refund in order to get free product.
Has anyone actually had this happen to them in a RPG context?
On 4/28/2004 at 4:10pm, Valamir wrote:
RE: customer fraud and e-publishing
I don't have any PDF products at the moment, but I don't give refunds for Uni as a print book, I can't imagine doing it for a PDF.
I'll send a replacement copy free of charge, but I won't refund a purchase price.
On 4/28/2004 at 4:13pm, Ron Edwards wrote:
RE: customer fraud and e-publishing
Hello,
This is one of the reasons why I like to handle each order individually, rather than an automatic-authorize button of some kind. The message from Paypal has to come to me, and I have to get to it, read it, and then either (a) go to the Bookshelf and authorize a download, or (b) forward the order to the warehouse for shipping.
The vast majority of orders are no-brainers: click-click, done. But the few hassles justify the slightly slower, more hands-on approach - if the address looks messed-up, if there's some kind of irregularity with how the money gets processed, if it's an e-check (which must take time to clear) rather than a flat payment, or whatever. A lot of the time I can spot a potential problem and contact the person to solve it (or learn that it's no big deal) before the process of actually getting product to them is under way.
Best,
Ron